Today’s Reading: John 15:16-17 (NIV)

16 [Jesus said,] “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.” 

Good morning!

My fall appointment calendar is beginning to fill up quickly. Much of what I do revolves around the things that are most important to me: ministry, family, work and school. The calendar gives me an opportunity to prioritize my day, and yet, some of what goes in my date book is not necessary of my own choosing. There are some things that I do simply because I’m called to do them. 

At work, I devote the last week of each month to coding, recording and submitting invoices to accounting for payment. Of the projects I complete each month, this is my least favorite task. Every month, it pops up on my Outlook calendar, and I stop what I’m doing and focus on this important work. It is no secret that I am mathematically challenged; I work with even greater determination to ensure that the data I record accurately reflects the amounts due as presented by various vendors for payment. I review incoming bills, verify account information, and look for duplication errors. I double check balances due, verifying that timely payments are made. Keeping an accurate accounting is of great value to my employer. Even though I may struggle through this task each month, I willingly submit myself to the project, knowing if I give my very best to it, the Lord will take the service I offer and He will bless and multiply it. I am striving toward perfection, and I know that the Father has called me to a higher standard. I look forward to the day when I am fully perfected in His love.

You and I have an important appointment to keep. This may not be the task we would willingly choose to undertake. Jesus Christ has commanded that we love each other. He did not make any exceptions to the rule, nor did He give us personal privilege or an opt-out arrangement. In fact, Jesus said that we did not choose Him; rather, the Father chose each of us to bear fruit that will have eternal consequences. We are expected to step up to love. Jesus wants us to bear real fruit by really loving each other. This one requirement will take everything you’ve got, and then some. For me, I cannot fully love without seeking heavenly help from the Lord. 

What task has the Father recorded on the pages of your life’s calendar? What requirement has He called you to fulfill that you continually shift to the bottom of your to-do list? Father, help us recognize the utter necessity and the urgency of Your commandment. Help us not to do this one thing with a half-ditched effort. Teach us how to love each other the way you love us. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

Grace and peace,

Deb Spaulding

Faith UMC - St. Charles, MO

www.songofdeborah.com

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© Copyright 2008, Deb Spaulding

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Do you believe just because you are a Christian and have a need, God will always intervene supernaturally? If so, this is an incorrect assumption. Look at the world around us. Many Christians are in need and go without help every day. There is a line between what you can do on your own and what God can help you with.

After obeying God's principles and reaching the end of your abilities, God provides supernatural assistance apart from anything you could ever do on your own. Even when we defy God's Word, he is a loving and graceful God that still intervenes as an act of mercy. We should not expect this, but know that He is always there.

Are you struggling financially? Are you finding it difficult to make ends meet in this troubled economy? Have no fear, rely on God's strength. His supernatural power can take you places you would never reach on your own.

Supernatural is that which occurs beyond what is natural. This phenomenon is above natural laws and beyond verifiable measures. This occurs once we have maximized natural laws - our abilities. Many Christians pray for financial miracles, but instead should be praying for God to provide opportunities. Miracles are not necessary in order to achieve natural success. This form of success comes when you apply God's principles to your finances. The supernatural is only necessary when you are limited in your natural abilities. You can do more than you are currently doing. Don't use God as a crutch, use Him to propel and maximize your strengths and help you overcome your weaknesses.

Remember when Jesus was faced with a dilemma of how to feed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish? God supernaturally multiplies the loaves and the fish so that not only is everyone fed, but food is left over. God intervenes when needed. Is there anything in your financial life where you have done the best you can but your best is not enough and you want God to step in and perform a miracle for you? This is a good time to trust Him for supernatural assistance. How do you tap into God's supernatural assistance when it comes to your finances?

The keys to tapping into God's supernatural assistance are:

1. Maximize your natural ability - Do all that you know to do. Seek wise counsel when you get stuck. If you lack knowledge, find someone who has experience and knowledge. Do the best you can and trust God for what you cannot do. Need financial help? Seek a faith-based financial planner. Go to http://www.kingdomadvisors.org or http://www.nacfc.com to find a qualified advisor. Learn all you can about finances so you can become a wiser steward.

2. Live a life that glorifies God - How can you expect God to supernaturally assist you when your life contradicts His principles?

3. Obey God's instructions on giving - If you are not tithing and generous with money how do you expect God to show you mercy or bless you?

4. Pray and seek Him always - There are certain walls we hit that cannot be moved without a commitment to prayer and seeking God. Prayer enables you to release everything to God and tap into His power. He is able to help you beyond human comprehension. Seeking Him and communicating with Him is essential.

Are you in need of a financial miracle? Whatever your circumstances or situation, ensure that you are actively incorporating these four areas into your financial life. Do all you can, seek wise counsel, and trust God for supernatural assistance to aid you in realizing the goals you trust Him with.

The pericope begins with the concluding verses in chapter 9 that describe Jesus’ ministry of teaching and healing and how he is moved to compassion for the people because they “were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (verse 36, CEV). While the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is most often associated with the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel, it is here in Matthew’s Gospel that we see Jesus as shepherd expressing pity and concern for the people. On two other occasions in his Gospel account, Matthew invokes shepherding imagery for Jesus (2:6; 26:31).

Matthew’s aim is to show that Jesus is the promised Messiah, with his portrayal of Jesus as a deliverer or “new Moses” chosen by God to bring salvation and speak God’s word (Deuteronomy 18:15-19). Jesus’ words of compassion for the people resonate with those of Moses who asked God to appoint his successor to lead the people into the promised land of Canaan so that they would not be “like sheep wandering around without a shepherd” (Numbers 12:17, CEV).

Jesus exhibits a similar concern and thus commissions his followers for ministry (10:1-8). In response to the need for laborers to gather in the harvest (9:38), the disciples are empowered to “announce that the kingdom of heaven will soon be here,” to “heal the sick, raise the dead to life, heal people who have leprosy, and force out demons” (10:7, 8, CEV) - tasks that Jesus himself has been performing (see Matthew 8:1-4, 28-34; 9:18-26, 27-31, 35).

As twenty-first century followers of Jesus, we, too, are called as disciples and empowered by the Holy Spirit to extend God’s kingdom and carry out Jesus’ ministry wherever we are. The “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:19, 20) is as relevant for us today as it was two thousand years ago. The harvest is indeed plentiful, and laborers are needed. And yes, Jesus tells us, he sends us out like sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16). Today, people are still as helpless and confused as they were in Jesus’ time, and in need of God’s saving love. Yet, we who belong to the Good Shepherd who died for us, “even though we were sinful” (Romans 5:8b), need to remember his compassion toward us and share God’s love with those who so desperately need it. Are you willing to accept the challenge to which Jesus is calling you?

This week’s Reflection was prepared by Barbara Bernstengel, who serves on the staff of the American Bible Society as Director of the Education Unit in the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship.

Breathe on me breath of God; Fill me with life anew ... (Edwin Hatch, 1835-1889)

Like a "breath of fresh air," this week's Scripture texts remind us of our source of life - that which sustains and renews us. Words like "mighty wind," "breath," and "Holy Spirit" punctuate the pericopes. And they call to mind Genesis 1:2, where we read that "the Spirit of God [or a mighty wind] was moving over the water," and Genesis 2:7, where it is recorded that "God breathed life into the man" (CEV). As noted in the words above from a hymn written by Edwin Hatch, God supplies us with the breath of life. Psalm 104, a beautiful hymn in praise of creation, includes these words:

Our LORD, by your wisdom you made so many things; The whole earth is covered with your living creatures.

You created all of them by your Spirit, and you give new life to the earth. (verses 24, 30, CEV)

New life in the Spirit is God's promise to us. On this Day of Pentecost, our Gospel text transports us back fifty days to the day of Christ's Resurrection. It is evening; the disciples are locked behind closed doors. Suddenly, Jesus is in their midst! His post-resurrection appearance catches them off guard. After the disciples determine that their Lord is indeed risen and is with them in the flesh, Jesus breathes on them and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22).

The disciples receive that which Jesus promised in his final discourse with them prior to his arrest and crucifixion - the Spirit of truth who will guide them into the full truth, teach them everything, help them, and who will keep on living in them (John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26, 27; 16:13). Filled with the Spirit, the disciples are now equipped to carry out Jesus' mission - to forgive sins (John 20:23) and tell all people of every nation to turn to God (Luke 24:47). Jesus tells his followers, "I am sending you, just as the Father has sent me" (John 20:21b, CEV), words that recall Jesus' prayer for his followers on the night of his betrayal: "I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me" (John 17:18, CEV).

On this Day of Pentecost, the text from Acts records the event that takes place ten days after Christ's ascension into heaven. The Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus before he ascended (Acts 1:8), has come like "a mighty wind" and as "fiery tongues" on the expectant disciples (Acts 2:2, 3, CEV). Today, we, as twenty-first century witnesses to the gospel, are also recipients of God's Holy Spirit, this life-giving breath of God.

Sometimes those who receive God's Spirit are described as being "on fire" for the Lord! Yes, as "Pentecost" people, we should be "on fire" because God's Spirit continues to live in us. Jesus' words to his disciples are now his words to us. We have received the breath of God, and, like the disciples, we are sent to tell everyone the good news about Jesus. As the Church, Christ's body on earth, we continue to be "led by God's Spirit" to proclaim that "Jesus is Lord" (1 Corinthians 12:3, CEV). Receive the Holy Spirit!

This week's Reflection was prepared by Barbara Bernstengel, who serves on the staff of the American Bible Society as Director of the Education Unit in the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship.

This week's Reflection was prepared by Barbara Bernstengel, who serves on the staff of the American Bible Society as Director of the Education Unit in the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship.

Perhaps the hardest question that Christians have to ask of themselves is "what does God want of me?" Those of us who have totally committed our lives to Christ want to know how to follow the God who has given his life that we might know what freedom is. It is part of our Christian commitment.

The Gospel reading for this week takes place following the final Passover meal that Jesus celebrates with his disciples. He tells them he will not be with them for much longer and bids them to love one another so that others will know that they are his disciples.

It is clear that Jesus is preparing his followers to carry on the work that he has been doing and that he will return to take them with him. Thomas, who in John's Gospel is often the one who asks the important questions, asserts that the disciples don't know the way. Plainly, Thomas does not understand that Jesus is speaking of his death. And so he asks the important question: "How can we know the way?"

But Jesus answers saying, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life!"

There is more than one level of understanding this story. There is the understanding that Jesus' first disciples would have had about where Jesus was going and there is also the understanding that later followers of John would have had hearing this story some sixty years after the event.

Thomas wants to know if Jesus is taking them back to Galilee or some such destination where Jesus carried out his ministry. But Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for his death and his resurrection. John, on the other hand, is trying to assure his followers that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is the way to know that the place of which Jesus speaks is one that is prepared for them within God's family.

The word in Greek for way can be understood at many different levels. It can mean a geographical location, or a means to a geographical location, or it can mean a level of knowing. In John, the way is knowing Jesus.

Jesus' mission was to show the world the Father - to show us how to love one another. Philip requests that Jesus show his followers the Father. Once again, Jesus is speaking on another level. "If you know me, Philip, you know the Father," Jesus seems to be saying.

Today, Christians need not worry about how to fulfill God's will. We have been promised by Jesus that, if we follow him, we will know the Father. We search the Gospels for ways to more surely follow Jesus' Way, but still we know that we are called to participate in God's family. We live out the 'destination' of God's house when we, too, show others the Father by the way that we act and live. When we live lives that welcome others to God's all-inclusive love, and become living examples of that love, we know the way that Jesus took.

This week's Reflection was prepared by the Rev. Lauren Gough, an Episcopal priest serving as pastor at St. Luke Lutheran Church, Sidney, New York.